


Savu

by nekrateholic



Series: soulmate au [2]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-10-14 21:56:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10544990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nekrateholic/pseuds/nekrateholic
Summary: Jongin was sure the internship would end him, if the endless café shifts didn’t do it first. Turned out it’s the start of the rest of his life, instead.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [kpopolymfics2017](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/kpopolymfics2017) collection. 



> written for Olymfics '17, you can find the other fics from the fest [here](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/kpopolymfics2017). ♡
> 
> According to google translate, "savu" means smoke in Finnish.  
> (This wouldn't have happened if I didn't have a certain person to yell at to a point where even I wanted to slap myself. I don't know how you didn't - but thank you.)

Jongin threw yet another shirt on the ever-growing pile of clothes next to his closet. It was the first day of his internship tomorrow and he desperately needed to seem more confident than he was feeling. Suddenly it seemed like he didn’t own a single piece of clothing even if the pile of clothes was almost as big as the wardrobe itself.

He thought about doing something to cover his soulmark - they were considered as socially acceptable for a quite a few years now, but who knew, maybe the mentor Jongin ended up with would be some old person who still thought public displays of soulmarks were indecent.

Finally, he settled on something that he prayed didn’t make him look like a slacker, or a try-hard, or - anything, really. A part of him just wanted to feel invisible. 

Jongin skipped covering the cracked mirror inked in his skin in the end. Partially because finger soulmarks were hard to cover and partly because he actually liked looking at the thing. It made him feel less lonely, sometimes. He still threw a rather big ring it in his bag - just in case. 

All Jongin wanted was to make a good first impression. Which wouldn’t really happen if he turned up half asleep with eyebags as big as his face, so he decided to go to bed - and because his mother taught him to clean after himself - balled the pile of clothes and shoved as much of them as he could back in the wardrobe. He could deal with the rest tomorrow, when he got back. 

If he survived.

*

The school’s guard was a middle aged man who didn’t seem too interested in his job - he waved off Jongin’s stuttery explanation that  _ hello, I’m supposed to start my internship today, do you- _

“They told me to take you to Mr. Jung - you turn right at the end of that hallway, the music room is at the end of it. I’m pretty sure he’s there right now.”

Jongin stayed there for a few more seconds, looking at the guard, the guard looking back with a blank face. It got obvious he wasn’t actually going to  _ take  _ Jongin anywhere, so Jongin bowed, thanked him and prayed he wouldn’t get lost.

Turned out the music room was really hard to miss - it had “Music room” glued on the door in big, colourful letters. There were flowers scattered around the words, too. It was impressive.

He took a deep breath, then knocked. The entire hallway was silent, save for the faint sound of someone walking in the next room. A few minutes later, the door opened a crack and - Jongin involuntary stepped back. The man - Mr. Jung, supposedly - looked like Jongin had personally offended him, somehow - or maybe it was just his nerves talking. The man raised an eyebrow.

“I’m, um.”  _ Breathe, Jongin _ , he yelled in his head, “I’m Kim Jongin, I think I’m supposed to start my internship with you today?” 

“Oh,” probably-Mr. Jung said. His voice was soft, softer than anything Jongin might have expected. It eased his nerves a little. “I didn’t expect you so early - there’s,” he looked somewhere behind him, “There’s still half an hour until classes start.”

He opened the door wider, motioning for Jongin to come in. It gave him time to try and fight the furious blush that was probably covering his face. “I, um. I wanted to have time to look around? I don’t know, to make sure I know what I’m doing before I try to do anything. I’m sorry.” In a furious attempt to distract himself, Jongin noticed - it was hard not to, really - the soulmark on the teacher’s hand. It was a spider, on the exact same place Jongin’s own soulmark was - only this one was completed.

“Oh no,” the teacher said, smiling. “Don’t be sorry, I like a person who takes their job seriously.” Jongin blinked at him - the last of the scary first impression faded away. He had a beautiful smile. “Ah, I never introduced myself, I’m sorry. I’m Jung Taekwoon, your mentor, as you probably know already.”

Jongin nodded, then noticed the piano in the corner of the room. His eyes widened in horror. “Is it a problem that I can’t play that?”

Mr. Jung followed his line of sight and laughed. “The piano? You’re not  _ required _ to play anything, don’t look so scared. But it’s a nice bonus if you know your way around an instrument.”

“Okay...” Jongin started compiling a list of potential week days where he could spare time for piano lessons. Between the school and his job at the café - it wasn’t a long list. “So, how is this going to go?”

Mr. Jung pointed at a seat in the corner opposite of the piano, behind the students’ desks. “I’m thinking you should spend today observing, how do you feel about it? Just to get an idea of how classes go and think about what you could do in my place. I don’t have that many classes today, after the last one we could discuss any potential questions and how you should proceed tomorrow.”

“I -” Jongin had honestly expected to be thrown at the kids right away, failing tragically and possibly being banned from every teaching position ever. He tried not to look like someone who just avoided the death sentence. “That would be great.”

Mr. Jung laughed again.

*

Mr. Jung was amazing. The children seemed to love him and and he seemed to know it - he made them laugh, without turning the class into a joke. Jongin was willing to bet music was each of these children’s favorite subject.

When the class ended, Jongin got up from his seat with the intention to - probably tell mr Jung how awesome he is - instead, his eyes fell on the spider again. It was wrapped around his index finger like a ring, with webs spun from where the spider was and disappearing up the sleeve of his shirt. 

Instead of breathless praise, what came out of Jongin’s mouth was, “Doesn’t it scare the children?”

Mr. Jung raised his hand, looking at his spider like people in movies looked at their wedding rings. There was a faint smile tugging at his lips. “Sometimes. They mostly find it fascinating, though. Some of the other teachers wanted us to cover them - he’s a teacher here as well - but we refused. The funny thing is,” he said, turning back at Jongin, “Both me and my soulmate, especially Wonshik, are scared of insects.”

“Oh,” Jongin wondered how he should keep the conversation going. “We… Our soulmarks are on the same place?”

He had the intense desire disappear as soon as the words left his mouth. Our soulmarks are on the same place? What did you expect, Kim Jongin, to bond over fingers?

But Mr. Jung just laughed. “I suppose we do. You have quite an interesting mark, though. I wonder how it’ll look when it’s completed.”

“Me too,” Jongin said looking at the cracked mirror on his right hand. “I hope I get to find out soon.” He regretted his words as soon as he looked up to see the pity in Mr. Jung’s eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said, before the teacher could say anything else. “Your class starts soon, I’ll go take my place.”

Mr. Jung looked like he wanted to say something else, but a student walked in, a few more after her, and soon the room was bursting with child laughter. Jongin took his place and ignored the desire to turn around and see if Mr. Jung still had the pity in his eyes. By the time he got the courage - and desire - to look up, the teacher was already chatting with a few of the children, whatever his expression might have been already replaced by a friendly smile.

*

“He’s so amazing, you have no idea!” Jongin exclaimed as soon as Taemin entered in the coffee shop later that day, a few minutes after Jongin had started his shift. Taemin hadn’t even opened his mouth to ask - he probably wouldn’t have, too, but they’d known each other for far too long now. Jongin didn’t need to be prompted.

Taemin stared at him with eyes as dead as Jongin’s after a double shift with no coffee. “Does that mean he’s hot?” 

“That is not my only criteria for a good person, you asshole.” Jongin waved the empty paper cup threateningly - the effect was lost, because Taemin had yet to look up from his phone. “Although he really is hot.” He stopped the triumphant  _ ha!  _ before it could even leave Taemin’s lips. “He’s also happily married to his soulmate. What I meant by amazing is he’s amazing  _ with kids.  _ They all love him, I swear. I wish I could be like him when I actually start teaching.”

A group of guys entered the shop then - Jongin recognized one of them as the guy who worked in the music shop a few blocks down. It was him that showed up with the group order and Taemin subtly moved away to let Jongin work. As the guy was handing the money for the coffees Jongin tried hard not to stare at the roses weaving around his wrist. He thought about his own mirror and how it would connect to the other mirror that was somewhere out there, waiting for him to touch it. He’d tried to imagine it so many times - but the downside of having a uncommon soulmark was that all you had was your imagination, and Jongin had way too much of that.

He realized he’d stared at the customer’s hand for a second too long and hastily took the money and bowed in apology. 

“It’s fine,” the guy laughed, “I stare at it sometimes too, and I live with the thing.”

Jongin apologized again anyway, tried his best to ignore Taemin’s attempts to stifle his laughter and started on the drinks.

Someone else came to pick them up and Jongin wondered how he didn’t notice him before - the man carried himself with a grace the first one didn’t possess and his hair was a shade of copper Jongin could only wish to pull off so well. He found himself a little mesmerized.

The new person took the drinks from the counter where Jongin left them, carefully balancing all five of them at once and Jongin really hoped the awe he felt didn’t show on his face. By the look on Taemin’s face, though, it definitely did.

*

If you had asked Jongin how he would spend his day off from the coffee shop a few weeks ago - honestly, a few hours would work too - he would’ve said catching up on sleep, definitely.

What he  _ definitely  _ wouldn’t have said was browsing the dog bed display in the pet shop closest to his apartment.

It had gone something like this:

_ “Mr. Jung, look!” yelled one of the kids barging into the room. “We found a puppy!” _

_ “What did I tell you, sweetheart?” Mr. Jung had said from his perch on the same chair Jongin had occupied the day before. “Pretend I’m not here today. You should go tell Mr. Kim over there,” he smiled at Jongin, “He’s very nice.” _

_ The little girl sulked but trudged over to Jongin anyway. “Do you like puppies, Mr. Kim?” It was a test if Jongin had ever seen one.  _

_ He swallowed and put his best smile on. “Of course! I’ve always wanted one.” _

_ The girl’s eyes lit up and Jongin almost sighed in relief but then - _

_ “Yay! You can take her, then! None of us can, but she seems so lonely and she needs a home, too and -” _

Now Jongin found himself a proud owner of a puppy and a promise to bring her to school from time to time. He had no idea how he was going to fulfill it, and Mr. Jung had laughed for five whole minutes when the class was over.  _ Blackmailing your way into children’s heart, why didn’t I think of that?  _ Jongin had just stared helplessly at the puppy wiggling in his hands. The kids had been ecstatic. 

“Can I help you with something?” The sales lady asked and Jongin almost jumped. Her nametag read “Soyeon” and she had a friendly smile on. Surprisingly, it didn’t make him want to run away from the shop like over-talkative shop assistants usually did. Then again, she didn’t really seem over-talkative.

“Um. I accidentally got a puppy today?”

Soyeon laughed. “Accidentally. Okay, I’m not going to ask. Have you ever had dogs before?” When Jongin shook his head, her smile grew wider. “Oh, I love newbies! So, you’re going to need more than a bed, as you probably know. You need a bowl, a collar, a leash, then we’re going to have to see about the necessary vaccinations. Have you dealt your puppy’s documents yet?”

Jongin blinked at her, the horror probably clear as day on his face. She laughed again. “It’s okay, we can do all of that here - we have a vet and he’s currently here and free of appointments. I can help you with the documents, too.”

There was only silence, for a second. Jongin wondered if it would be too socially acceptable if he hugged her. The choice was made for him, however, when she took his hand and lead him towards the bowls display with another bright smile.

*

“You know,” Jongin said to the puppy later that day, with her curled up on his lap, “Even though the circumstances were a little weird, I think I’m glad I ended up with you.”

She didn’t react to his voice - either because she was already asleep or because she had yet to learn to recognize her name. Provided Jongin came up with a name for her at some point. He gently petted her head and  _ that  _ she reacted to, she lifted her head, tail wiggling and all previous calmness gone. Jongin laughed and nudged her to jump off his lap. She did, but she started jumping up his legs, barking in her shrill puppy way - she was wide awake and ready to play. 

It hit him, then; this would probably be the scene to greet him when he returned home from now on. Suddenly the world felt brighter, somehow.

*

Taemin laughed for five minutes straight when he heard about the puppy. Jongin had yet to name her, so he kept calling her The Puppy. His friend had an opinion about that, too - “uncreative idiot”.

Another customer came when he was preparing Taemin’s second coffee. He tried to hurry up without messing up the order - although, even if he did, it  _ was _ Taemin after all.

“We really should start meeting up outside of the damn coffee shop again.” Taemin said, watching Jongin work. 

“Sure,” the barista replied, laughing, “That would imply I’m ready to do more than pass out every time I finish work. Oh, by the way - you have the honours to go check on the puppy when I have double shifts.”

Taemin grumbled something, but Jongin had already handed him the coffee and moved on to the next in line.

The next in line was the boy with the copper hair from before. Jongin stared at him a second too long before the automatic customer service smile took over. 

“What can I get for you?”

The boy absentmindedly tapped on the counter, head raised to the menu board over them. Jongin saw the flash of something dark on the skin of his wrist - a soulmark, probably. It didn’t look complete and Jongin felt a weird sense of happiness - but it wasn’t like he’d hit on the guy. He was both too busy and too people-weird for that.

“Um. A latte, please?

“Sure,” Jongin offered a hand to take his money and - the boy froze. He just stared at his hand and Jongin didn’t think of it much - perks of having a uncommon soulmark - but the staring quickly transitioned from friendly curiosity to downright awkwardness. He cleared his throat.

The boy startled. “I -” he lifted his eyes from Jongin’s hand with visible difficulty. It only lasted a second, before he was back to staring at the soulmark. The next time he looked up, he shoved his hand in Jongin’s face. “Look.”

Jongin’s first reaction was to say -  _ what are you doing _ , or maybe  _ please go away _ , or most likely  _ I’m sorry _ \- what he was sorry for, he didn’t know. But then he finally saw what the guy was trying to show him. It was a soulmark. The dark spot on his wrist Jongin saw earlier really was a soulmark - a mirror, with a crack running through its middle, an exact replica to the one on Jongin’s ring finger. He reached to touch it - but the boy withdrew his hand so quickly Jongin was left with palm hovering over the cash register, more confused than anything.

“I’m sorry,” the boy said. “I just - when do you finish work?”

Jongin glanced at the clock. “In four hours?”

“Oh,” his possible-soulmate frowned. “I have to get to practice but. Maybe we could meet up soon? It might be nothing, but even if it is, I don’t want to do rush it.”

“Sure,” Jongin tried to keep the disappointment off his face. “Can I get a name, at least?”

“Oh,” the guy said again and - was this his thing? “I’m Minseok.”

When Jongin finished the late a few minutes later, he hesitated for quite some time - then just whispered  _ fuck it _ to himself, and instead of Minseok’s, scribbled his own name and number on the paper cup. 

He didn’t miss the smile on Minseok’s lips when he came to pick it up.

*

“You seem distracted today,” Mr. Jung said after Jongin’s third class. He didn’t look angry, not really, but Jongin still felt his blood run a little colder.

“I’m sorry, I’ll try to focus more. It’s just...” Was it socially acceptable to talk about your possible newfound love life at work? Then again, they did talk about Mr. Jung’s husband on the first day. “I think I might have found my soulmate yesterday.”

Mr. Jung’s eyes immediately flew to his hand, where the mirror was still perfectly visible, cracked and unfinished. The teacher looked confused.

Jongin laughed. “We haven’t touched yet; it’s just - yesterday, one of the customers in the café I work at had the same soulmark. He refused to touch me before we, uh, get to know each other first? Or something like that.”

Mr. Jung considered it for a moment. “It makes sense, I guess. Some people trust old-fashioned human interaction more than soulmate magic.”

“Yeah, but that also leaves the possibility that he’ll see the wrong side of me and get the wrong impression and boom, I’m alone for the rest of my life. Assuming he  _ is _ my soulmate.”

“You seem to have quite a negative look on this whole thing.”

Jongin shrugged. “I’ve been taking care of myself alone for most of my life, I was looking forward to the point where there would be someone else, too. I’m sorry,” Jongin said as the kids started coming in for the next class. “This isn’t exactly a work appropriate conversation.”

Mr Jung smiled. “It’s okay, I don’t mind.” Then, before he turned to go back to his seat on the other side of the room, he added, quieter, “Don’t make decisions for him. No matter how this goes, it will be for the best. You’ll see.”

Jongin really hoped he was right.

*

He got a text message that same night. The Puppy was asleep at the foot of the bed and Jongin immediately put his phone on silence - she was rarely so quiet and he really needed the rest.

_ hey, this is minseok :) are you free tomorrow? _

Jongin just stared at his phone for a few minutes. Then typed a,

_ double shift, sorry _

After some consideration, he added a sad face and hit send before he could talk himself out of it. Minseok didn’t reply right away, which, of course, had Jongin worrying. Did he sound too uninterested? Was the sad face too much? He quickly sent another message.

_ i’m free friday afternoon? _

The reply was almost instant this time.

_ sure. how do you feel about the park? _

Breathe, Jongin told himself. The park was great - they wouldn’t really be alone and he could take The Puppy for moral support, as well. He glanced at her and smiled. She was a menace more often than not, but she was  _ his _ menace.

_ awesome. do you mind if i take my dog? _

Jongin had almost fallen asleep when his phone vibrated again. He accidentally hit his face trying to unlock it. 

_ of course not,  _ the message read,  _ see you friday. _

Jongin opened his calendar app, even though he knew exactly how many days there were until friday. Three. Three days and he might meet his soulmate. 

Falling asleep was hard that night.

*

Between the school and the coffee shop, friday arrived before Jongin had time to mentally prepare himself. In fact, he had forgotten all about it until he was home, face down on his bed - and his phone pinged.

_ how does 4pm sound? _

Jongin stared at his phone once again - it seemed to be the deflaut reaction to Minseok messaging him. He furiously typed  _ i’m SO SORRY i forgot i had so mu-  _ then stopped and deleted everything. In the end,  _ sure, meet you at the west entrance?  _ was what he sent instead.

Minseok replied with a smiley face a few seconds later. Now Jongin had an hour to make himself presentable and hopefully get to said west entrance in time.

He threw his phone on the bed and rushed to the bathroom.

*

The Puppy really was a menace out in the open. Jongin honestly wondered how Taemin managed to take her out every day without wanting to strangle her. Or maybe he did want to strangle her - they hadn’t had much time to see each other lately, beyond the occasional café visit to check if Jongin was still alive. 

Jongin was now hurrying after The Puppy - she wasn’t very fast, she was too young for that, but neither that, nor the leash she was on stopped her from running around like she was on batteries - except hers never ran out of power.

Jongin noticed Minseok reading on a bench near the entrance and tugged on The Puppy’s leash in an attempt to steer her in that direction but to no avail - she ran in the complete opposite direction. It took at least fifteen minutes to convince her to at least look in Minseok’s general direction. Fifteen more and Jongin finally managed to reach his potential soulmate. When he did, Minseok was already watching him, mouth quirked in amusement.

“I’m sorry,” Jongin panted, trying very hard not to let The Puppy run away again, “I swear I was on time! It’s just, The Puppy -” she yipped and decided trying to run again was impossible, so she started playing with Jongin’s legs instead. “Yeah. You can probably see.”

“I can,” Minseok said and there was laughter in his voice, even if he was visibly trying not to actually laugh. “I’ve been watching you for the past twenty minutes.”

Jongin could feel the horror, most likely accompanied by a blush, spreading on his face. Minseok laughed. “It’s fine, it was entertaining. What’s his name?”

The Puppy seemed to finally notice Minseok then, and switched to playing with  _ his _ legs. Jongin tried to get her to stop, but she listened to him as much as she had when they arrived. “I’m really sorry,” Jongin said with a sigh, “Also, she’s a girl. Who still doesn’t have a name. I’m calling her The Puppy temporarily.”

Minseok raised an eyebrow. “The Puppy? That’s creative.” He tried to pet the puppy but she bit at his fingers. Jongin decided it’s time to accept the fact that The Puppy probably just ruined his chance with his potential soulmate but then - Minseok laughed. And tried to pet her again, which had the same result, so he kept laughing and dodging her teeth and -

“I want her name to be special.” Jongin heard himself saying, “I can’t just name her whatever.”

Minseok watched him quietly for a few minutes, still playing with The Puppy. “I’m sorry I don’t want to touch you. It’s just - I’ve seen it happen to one of my friends before and it was partly funny but mostly terrifying. He didn’t really like the guy at first. Sure, they resolved it pretty quickly and are now happily living together but… I just want to make sure I like you for you, before whatever this soulmate magic thing is takes over my brain. If you do end up my soulmate, I mean.”

“I respect that.” Jongin sat next to him, carefully avoiding any chance of physical contact. “But I have to disagree with you - I think the marks are more like... a way to help, somehow. Something to prove that the person really is good for you. In the end, you’re not forced to do anything you don’t want to. I consider it a reassurance, of sorts.”

“I suppose,” Minseok replied, now fully occupied with The Puppy, who was attempting to climb in his lap. “I think your puppy really hates being in the same place for more than five minutes.”

Jongin snorted. “You think?”

“Well,” Minseok grinned, getting up. “How about you walk her some more, and I’ll walk with you. We can get coffee somewhere along the way.”

Jongin attempted a cool and flirty  _ Sure _ , but the second The Puppy sensed he was about to possibly move, she dashed ahead, the leash tripped him and he ended up face-first on the ground.

Minseok laughed the whole five minutes it took to help him up.

*

“So now what,” Taemin asked, sprawled on Jongin’s bed and petting The Puppy, who was not trying to chew her way through Jongin’s entire household for a change.

Jongin was, once again, building a clothes mountain next to his wardrobe. “Now… I’m going to go see one of his musicals.”

“Does he know?”

Jongin threw a shirt at Taemin’s head. “He invited me, you asshole.”

“Ew,” his friend said, pretending to gag. Jongin knew it was bullshit. He washed the shirt two days ago. Probably. “Do you want me to come with?” Taemin asked, tone still mocking, but then again he was never, ever serious. Jongin smiled.

“Thank you.”

And then, because they were them, threw another shirt at Taemin’s head.

*

Minseok on stage was something magical, Jongin found out. They all were, really, but Jongin was there to see Minseok and - it took his breath away. He’d never seemed shy or uncomfortable any of the times they’d met before but the man on stage was something else entirely. It was like he was born to be there, created for the specific reason to walk that stage and sing that song. And the next one, and the next one - the musical’s story barely even registered in Jongin’s brain and yet it was like the rest of the audience, the rest of the  _ world _ didn’t exist for that hour and a half.

He had never seen someone quite as breathtaking as Minseok was up on that stage.

The spell was broken when applause erupted all around him. A glance to the left told him Taemin was clapping too, eyes shiny and a rare, real smile on his face. Jongin looked back at the stage, at Minseok, and found himself fighting the urge to run away - the thought that this person, this being of talent, actually might, or worse  _ might not _ be his soulmate - Jongin suddenly found himself breathless for a different reason entirely. When people started heading for the exit, Jongin tugged Taemin in that direction as well.

Taemin looked confused. “I thought you had agreed to meet up after this?”

“We did.” Jongin stated and a part of him furiously rebelled against the thought of breaking his promise, against running away, but his feet kept taking him towards the way out. “I’m not feeling well, I’ll text him on the way home.”

The disapproval was clear as day on Taemin’s face, but thankfully, he says nothing.

*

_ are you sure you’re okay? _

The message glared from Jongin’s phone and the thing in him that rebelled against leaving the theatre had by now turned into guilt, furiously eating at his conscience. Instead of being mad at Jongin for standing him up, Minseok had taken to heart Jongin’s excuse of “not feeling well”. He had even called, wanted to make sure Jongin is alright and Jongin felt like the world’s worst human being each second he spent trying to convince him that  _ no, it’s nothing serious, I must have caught something at work, I’ll be fine after some rest. _

And Minseok believed him so easily - he had barely stopped texting him for the two hours after they hung up. Jongin finally managed to make him stop worry by agreeing to lunch the next day. 

Lunch on weekdays happened at the school, which meant they were probably going to get something from the bakery nearby and eat it in the little park close to the school. Jongin made sure to let Minseok know that, to not make him expect fancy things and - Minseok’s reply contained a lot of dw-s and a screenshot of the weather forecast for the next day, proof that it was going to be just as sunny as the last few days had been.

Jongin fell asleep trying hard not to think about anything, least of all of the not-date the next day. He failed miserably, of course.

*

“Hello!” Came a voice from the doorway and Jongin almost jumped. Mr. Jung looked at him with raised eyebrows. Then he turned to smile at the man in the doorway.

“Can I help you with something?”

“You can,” Minseok smiled as he walked in, “I’m actually here to take Mr. Kim here out for lunch.”

“Oh really.” Mr. Jung looked entirely too entertained, especially after he noticed the careful way both Minseok and Jongin avoided accidental contact. “Well, I can teach the next class myself, so Jongin, why don’t you take a longer lunch break?”

Jongin was sure his eyes screamed betrayal but Minseok was smiling and thanking Mr. Jung and very soon Jongin found himself being pushed out of the door (by Mr. Jung, since Minseok was, of course, walking a few paces ahead.)

“Please stop looking like you’re headed for the guillotine.” Minseok said, voice bright but somehow off. They were headed for the bakery, Jongin leading the way.

“I’m -” Jongin wanted to defend himself but… In all honesty, he probably did look that way. “I’m sorry.”

“Am I really that scary?”

“What? No,” Jongin thought about opening the door to the bakery for him, but that might result in accidental contact, so he just opened it, went behind it and kept it open until Minseok was inside and a safe distance away. “It’s just - the whole thing is little overwhelming, I think.”

Minseok went to look at the pastry display. “Is that why you ran away last night?”

“I -”

“You’re a terrible liar, did you know that?” Minseok said, but he was smiling now. “Your guilt started showing halfway through the phone conversation. I think I was just feeling sadistic the rest of the night.”

“Oh.” The rest of Jongin’s potentially idiotic answer was saved by the sales lady finally arriving.

Back outside, on their way to the only free, sunny bench in sight Minseok spoke again. “How do you feel about checking if we really are soulmates at some point?”

Jongin choked on his muffin. After the coughing fit passed (with Minseok laughing at him while trying - and failing - to help), he cleared his throat, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Minseok looked around, “I was thinking we could have lunch some time, on - I don’t know, some sunny bench in a random park?”

Jongin was proud of himself for not choking again. “You mean  _ now _ ?”

“Why not? No time like the present, right? And you said it yourself, no one’s forcing us to do anything. It’s not like we’re getting married. Well, not right now anyway.”

Now Jongin  _ did _ choke again. Minseok didn’t even try to help him this time, he just laughed his ass off. “Now that was just cruel.” 

“Oops.” Minseok failed to look even an ounce of apologetic, “Now, have you ever thought where would you like your soulmark to be? If we do end up soulmates, I mean.”

“To be honest, I just want it to be big. I like the idea of being marked.”

They were both silent for a few moments, then Minseok burst out laughing once again, and Jongin could feel himself blushing furiously.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Now how about - I don’t know, I step on your foot or something? Your left one, I mean. So whatever completes the mirrors, if we are soulmates, of course, will basically cover half of your body.”

The idea had Jongin’s mind reeling. But - “But what about you? I mean, how do you feel about all that... uh, marking?”

Minseok smiled at him, and the laughter was still in his eyes, but there was no mockery in his voice. “I don’t mind, really. I don’t think I’m as excited as you are, but I like the idea of a complete soulmark, too.”

“Okay.” Jongin took a deep breath. “Let’s do this.”

Minseok came closer and - he didn’t step on him, not really, but he brought the tips of their shoes together. The feeling was so faint Jongin would’ve surely missed it if he didn’t know to expect it. It was like tickling - all the way from his ankles to the tips of his hands. Soon, a narrow cloud of smoke crawled its way down his wrist, all the way to the mirror on his ring finger.

“So it really is you,” Jongin said, watching as the smoke wrapped around Minseok’s wrist.

“Yeah,” Minseok’s voice was quiet, eyes trained on his hands. When he looked up, he smiled, brighter than each smile Jongin had seen so far. “I’ll be honest, I kind of expected this was going to happen ever since that time I watched you fall on your face because of The Puppy, time and time again, without ever getting really mad.”

“Oh.” Jongin felt himself blushing again. But then, “ _ Oh! _ I know how I’m going to name her!”

“Yeah? How?”

Jongin rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, I’ll have to google-translate smoke in some weird languages first.”

Minseok stared at him, another smile blooming on his lips. “Are you always going to be this cheesy?” 

For the first time since they met, Jongin felt that maybe, just maybe, it was all going to be okay. “Well, you’re going to have to stick around to find out.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> ((I used my country's internship/teaching system since it's what I'm most familiar with - if that part had you confused that's probably why, I'm sorry))


End file.
